Full name: Byung-Hyun Kim Born: 01/19/79 Birthplace: Gwangju,South Korea Height: 5'9" Weight: 180 Position: P Bats: Right Throws: Right College: Sungkyunkwan, Seoul, South Korea MLB Debut: 05/29/99
			3.18
			3.24

				W		L		ERA		G		GS		CG		SHO		SV		SVO		IP		H		R		ER		HR		HBP		BB		SO
		YTD		8		5		3.18		49		5		0		0		16		19		79.1		70		38		28		6		8		18		69

2002 Highlights:
Unlike the 2001 season, when he became the closer after an injury to reliever Matt Mantei, B.K. was Bob Brenly's go-to guy in the pen from the outset when a game was on the line in 2002...proving that there were no lingering effects from the unfortunate circumstances in the 2001 World Series, he set a single season team record for saves with 36 in 42 chances, shattering the record of 30 set by Gregg Olson in 1998...Kim finished the year with an 8-3 record and career-best 2.04 ERA in a team-high 72 appearances...his work earned him a spot on his first National League All-Star team in just his third full year in the majors, first full season as a closer...he made good on his first 10 save situations, inheriting 9 runners and not allowing any to score...he did not allow a run in his first 7 appearances of the year, spanning 6.2 innings, and was touched for only 1 run in his first 19.0 innings for a 0.47 ERA through May 8...he also recorded at least 1 strikeout in each of his first 20 appearances, totaling 42 K's in 26.0 innings for a 14.5 strikeout to 9-inning ratio...included in that stretch was a record-setting performance in Philadelphia on May 11, becoming the 33rd big leaguer at the time to strikeout the side on 9 pitches, fanning Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal and Pat Burrell...the strikeout was a much bigger part of his arsenal in the first half of the season, fanning 60 over 44.1 frames for a 12.2 ratio, but just 32 in his last 39.2 innings, a 7.3 mark... though his strikeout numbers tailed off in the second half, he still finished with 92 in 84.0 innings for a 9.9 per 9-inning ratio...after allowing 5 earned runs in a 10.1-inning stretch from May 11-26, B.K. went on another roll tossing 15.0 consecutive shutout innings over 12 outings from May 29-June 21, allowing only 6 hits while fanning 15 and making good on all 7 save situations in that span...Kim's only hiccup of the 2002 regular season occurred right after that stretch, allowing 7 earned runs over a pair of appearances in Houston on June 25-27...he entered the game on the 25th with the score tied and a man aboard in the eighth inning, but was tagged for a pair of 2-run homers...just 36 hours later in Minute Maid Park, he was called upon with Arizona clinging to a 4-3 lead in the ninth and after retiring the first man, 3 of the next 4 reached before Gregg Zaun ended the affair with a pinch-hit grand slam, just BK's third blown save in 22 opportunities...the Korean-born hurler treated the tough couple of games as a mere inconvenience as he then recorded saves in 7 consecutive situations, spanning his next 8 appearances...included in that stretch were saves in his first 4 appearances after the All-Star break as Arizona embarked on an 11-game journey through each of the 4 cities in the N.L. West...the first 3 rescues came on consecutive days after the break in Los Angeles, July 11-13, working an inning in each contest allowing only 1 hit, earning National League Player-of-the-Week honors for the abbreviated post All-Star break week...he followed on July 16 by recording the final 2 outs in Arizona's 5-3 win in San Francisco...as the Diamondbacks began putting some space between themselves and the rest of the division, Kim kept contributing, providing 4 wins and 8 saves (in 10 chances) from August 3-September 19...included was his team record-tying 30th save on August 20 at home against Cincinnati, then his record-breaking rescue just 2 days later also against the Reds...one of his more exciting saves, his 32nd of the year took place in Bank One Ballpark on August 23 against the Cubs, as he fanned Sammy Sosa with 2 men aboard to protect a 3-2 win over Kerry Wood...Kim closed 2002 allowing only 3 earned runs in his last 25.2 innings for a 1.05 ERA spanning 22 outings, including no earned runs in his last 8 outings, totaling 8.2 frames...he appeared in the last 3 games of the season, retiring all 8 Rockies he faced and earning a pair of saves...he was scored upon in only 11 of his 72 outings on the year, totaling 19 earned runs in 84.0 innings...eliminate the 7 runs over a 2-game span during the visit to Houston in late-June and B.K. gave up just 12 earnies in 83.0 frames for a sparkling 1.30 ERA...with the D'Backs never holding a late lead in any of the 3 games against St. Louis, Kim's only work in the NLDS came in the series finale at Busch Stadium, entering in the eighth inning with Arizona trailing, 4-3 and allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks.

How obtained:
Signed as a free agent, February 19, 1999.

Personal:
Byung-Hyun Kim...he is single and makes his home in Gwangju, Korea...he graduated from Kwang-ju First High School in 1997, and at the time he signed he was a sophomore at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul...he was named both the Most Valuable Player and Most Valuable Pitcher for the National High School championships in Korea...he was selected as a delegate to the Korea Junior National Team in 1996, then named to the National Team in both 1997 and 1998...Kim made the trek from his native Korea to the U.S.in December to participate in Arizona's visit to the White House.